BioShock: An Essential Collection on Nintendo Switch

The Bioshock Collection is a key review of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One cycle of the three video games in the Bioshock series. Originally designed by Ken Levine, the video games transport their proposed shooter to PCs and consoles with improved graphics, all the downloadable content and the unmatched quality that these action games set in the utopian cities of Rapture and Columbia exude.

There are many reasons why the experience of playing any of the three Bioshocks again is very current, despite the fact that almost ten years have passed since the release of the first of its proposals. The keys reside both in an impeccable narrative that captures and engages from the first moment, priceless the prologue and the entrance to the lighthouse of the original work, as in a stage design as in few shooters we have seen for years. But all this would not be worth much if it were not accompanied by excellent gameplay, and in that sense the game offered an action easy to understand but with infinite possibilities. Yes, one button for weapons and one for powers (the plasmids), but with infinite combinations to carry out with an environment that offered enormous possibilities. Electric shock with water equal to a gunshot, throwing fire on a raft of oil equal to a fire ... Lots of ways to mix the action that were already revolutionary at the time, but that against all odds, despite the time elapsed, have not been too explored by others proposals for first person action. At the end of the analysis you can find links to read what we wrote at the time of the three video games in detail, but in a more synthetic way we are going to tell you what you can expect from this remastering, overlooking the individual quality of each one of those products separately.

With the first Bioshock we have the jewel in the crown. It is not only the best video game of the three, but it is also the one that shows the most affection in its translation to the year 2016. The representation of the shooter with that glorious resolution and stupendous fluidity is accompanied by some tweaks here and there, which they leave a really resounding aspect. Obviously, it cannot compete in all sections with a shooter developed in these times, but the work carried out in everything that has to do with the visual is worth admiring. There are some things to qualify also, of course, although it is the most fluid and the clearest of the three products contained in the packaging, it is also true that this extra resolution causes some shadows and certain elements of the stage to “see the seams ”. Nothing rude, but it could be improved. Somewhat worse are some bugs of this version, in most cases inherited from the original game itself. Nothing too important, but definitely annoying. On the other hand, the game with the most sweet extras is a triplet, with a spectacular but brief museum in which we can walk among discard modeling and design images of the video game, and also with some sections commented on by Ken Levine and Shawn Robertson ( responsible for animations) that are implemented as unlockables that we can find and that, although they are with the voices in English, offer very interesting information. The latest addition? It also contains the challenge rooms that appeared for him, and which are mainly limited to tests related to action challenges.

If we are scrupulously chronological, once the 2007 Bioshock is finished, we will move on to the 2010 Bioshock 2, which was no longer signed by Levine but which had the great team of 2K Marin carrying the weight of its development behind them. The result? A game that would not go down in the annals of history, but offered outstanding action entertainment that built on the virtues of the former to explore them with a major twist of approach. Unfortunately this is the offer of the pack that is most questioned, not only because it is a smaller product compared to the others, but also because one of its attractions was the extraordinary multiplayer and for some reason it has been left out of the packaging. The visual improvement if we compare it with the one that was released at the time is also less, and the aesthetic set will not say that it suffers but it will not leave us as pleasantly surprised as in the previous one and we have detected the occasional punctual and hardly noticeable slowdown , but definitely present. DLCs ​​are testimonial by giving up the online part, and are just a couple of series of challenges without much interest.

The pack is closed by a Bioshock Infinite that we will not say is at the height of the original, but that is also a fascinating action proposal. Launched in 2013, one of its great attractions was the presence of a young girl next to us who promised herself a true revolution. Finally, his company did not turn the action upside down as promised, but it left us an excellent taste in our mouths that was somewhat weighed on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 due to a visual potential that both machines were not able to reach and that made his fluidity suffer somewhat. Here the changes are very obvious with respect to those console editions, however they are nonexistent if at the time we enjoyed it with a powerful PC that allowed us to move it to HD resolution and with a fluidity of 60 frames per second. The absence of extras, as with Bioshock 2, is a real shame seeing how well they work in the first and the amount of information they provide about their fascinating development, however the title does make us happy by offering the two great DLC that came out for him. We speak, of course, of the unforgettable pair of the Marine Pantheon, which offered an equally fascinating alternative reality to that of the magnificent Columbia.

It draws attention to the uncontrolled care of this pack for the first installment of Bioshock and, on the other hand, the certain pasotism that it shows through the other two. Not only for the absence of extras in these, but even for the absence of the more than notable multiplayer of the second. Still, this Bioshock The Collection with its 1080p and 60 frames per second is absolutely essential for those who did not enjoy Ken Levine jewels at the time, although it is a somewhat more nuanced recommendation for those who have already tried them.